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arXiv · 1604.01710

Measurement of the double-beta decay half-life and search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$ with the NEMO-3 detector

Abstract

The NEMO-3 experiment at the Modane Underground Laboratory has investigated the double-$β$ decay of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$. Using $5.25$ yr of data recorded with a $6.99\,{\rm g}$ sample of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$, approximately $150$ double-$β$ decay candidate events have been selected with a signal-to-background ratio greater than $3$. The half-life for the two-neutrino double-$β$ decay of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$ has been measured to be $T^{2ν}_{1/2}\,=\,[6.4\, ^{+0.7}_{-0.6}{\rm (stat.)} \, ^{+1.2}_{-0.9}{\rm (syst.)}] \times 10^{19}\,{\rm yr}$. A search for neutrinoless double-$β$ decay of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$ yields a null result and a corresponding lower limit on the half-life is found to be $T^{0ν}_{1/2} > 2.0 \times 10^{22}\,{\rm yr}$ at $90\%$ confidence level, translating into an upper limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass of $< m_{ββ} > < 6.0 - 26$ ${\rm eV}$, with the range reflecting different nuclear matrix element calculations. Limits are also set on models involving Majoron emission and right-handed currents.

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3 Collaboration, R. Arnold, C. Augier, A. M. Bakalyarov, J. D. Baker, A. S. Barabash, A. Basharina-Freshville, S. Blondel, S. Blot, M. Bongrand, V. Brudanin, J. Busto, A. J. Caffrey, S. Calvez, M. Cascella, C. Cerna, J. P. Cesar, A. Chapon, E. Chauveau, A. Chopra, D. Duchesneau, D. Durand, V. Egorov, G. Eurin, J. J. Evans, L. Fajt, D. Filosofov, R. Flack, X. Garrido, H. Gómez, B. Guillon, P. Guzowski, R. Hodák, A. Huber, P. Hubert, C. Hugon, S. Jullian, A. Klimenko, O. Kochetov, S. I. Konovalov, V. Kovalenko, D. Lalanne, K. Lang, V. I. Lebedev, Y. Lemière, T. Le Noblet, Z. Liptak, X. R. Liu, P. Loaiza, G. Lutter, F. Mamedov, C. Marquet, F. Mauger, B. Morgan, J. Mott, I. Nemchenok, M. Nomachi, F. Nova, F. Nowacki, H. Ohsumi, R. B. Pahlka, F. Perrot, F. Piquemal, P. Povinec, P. Přidal, Y. A. Ramachers, A. Remoto, J. L. Reyss, B. Richards, C. L. Riddle, E. Rukhadze, N. I. Rukhadze, R. Saakyan, R. Salazar, X. Sarazin, Yu. Shitov, L. Simard, F. Šimkovic, A. Smetana, K. Smolek, A. Smolnikov, S. Söldner-Rembold, B. Soulé, I. Štekl, J. Suhonen, C. S. Sutton, G. Szklarz, J. Thomas, V. Timkin, S. Torre, Vl. I. Tretyak, V. I. Tretyak, V. I. Umatov, I. Vanushin, C. Vilela, V. Vorobel, D. Waters, S. V. Zhukov, A. Žukauskas. 2016-06-16. Measurement of the double-beta decay half-life and search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{48}{\rm Ca}$ with the NEMO-3 detector. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.93.112008

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